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This one's for all you fairy tale lovers out there. This is a straight-up, no-holds-barred fairy tale, with lovely princesses who wear crowns and beautiful gowns and genteelly toss golden balls to each other and never get dirty or sweaty--

. . . well, actually, this story is mostly about the youngest sister of those princesses, whose fairy godmother took one look at the list of all the gifts this princess received at her christening, like Charm and Courage and Grace and Wit, and promptly decreed, "This princess shall be Ordinary!" And so she was.

It turns out that most royalty and nobility want to marry a princess who's gorgeous, not one with straight, mousy brown hair and a turned-up, freckled nose. Her despairing parents decide to import a dragon to terrorize the country and promise the hand of the (unseen) princess Amethyst, known as Amy, to the prince who offs the dragon. Amy catches wind of the plan, decides it's a terrible scheme on so many levels, runs away and ends up living in the forest and then working as a kitchen maid in the castle of a neighboring kingdom.

I thought this little story would be more subversive than it was, but other than the twist of having an ordinary-looking and acting girl as its main character, it pretty much follows the standard fairy tale line. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing! (view spoiler)[There's a handsome guy in the castle where Amy is working who, it turns out, is not nearly as shallow as all the other nobility she's met. (hide spoiler)] But it's a tale that's told well and charmingly and with a little humor. It's written on a middle grade level, but older readers who enjoy sweet fairy tales will still appreciate it. I would have totally adored this when I was younger, so I'm cutting it some slack. Plus the illustrations by the author are lovely.

Read this one when you're in the mood for a delightful and uncomplicated Happily Ever After. (And make sure you get a copy with the author's illustrations.)

Read information about the author

M. M. Kaye (Mary Margaret) was born in India and spent her early childhood and much of her early-married life there. Her family ties with the country are strong: her grandfather, father, brother and husband all served the British Raj. After India's independence, her husband, Major-General Goff Hamilton of Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides (the famous Indian Army regiment featured in The Far Pavilions), joined the British Army and for the next nineteen years M. M. Kaye followed the drum to Kenya, Zanzibar, Egypt, Cyprus and Germany.M. M. Kaye won worldwide fame for The Far Pavilions, which became a worldwide best-seller on publication in 1978. This was followed by Shadow of the Moon and Trade Wind. She also wrote and illustrated The Ordinary Princess, a children's book and authored a dozen detective novels, including Death in Kashmir and Death in Zanzibar. Her autobiography has been published in three volumes, collectively entitled Share of Summer: The Sun in the Morning, Golden Afternoon, and Enchanted Evening. In March 2003, M. M. Kaye was awarded the Colonel James Tod International Award by the Maharana Mewar Foundation of Udaipur, Rajasthan, for her "contribution of permanent value reflecting the spirit and values of Mewar".